Gloom and Doom

by casualbrony10

Old, Far Off, Unhappy Things Part 2

Gloom stared into the Crystal Heart, it still glowed dimly despite the overwhelming darkness surrounding it. He stared into the sparkling crystal, probing its secrets. A sudden twinge of pain overtook him and he convulsed, vomiting up a pool of rancid black ooze, which evaporated quickly. Dammed love magic! That spell that hit him earlier had damaged him more than he thought. Despite his regenerative capabilities the spell had somehow disrupted the very magic that held Gloom together. Love, happiness, hope, friendship, he could deal with physical wounds or violence, but to a being composed of negative energy positive feelings were a poison that took time to recover from. No matter, the steadily growing stream of misery he was siphoning from Tartarus, Ponyville, Canterlot, and the Empire was more than enough to sustain all three of his bodies and repair his injuries. He continued cautiously probing the heart with his magic. He needed to know more about it if he was to use it. An idea popped into his twisted mind.

With a wave of his claw he sent shadows through the empire, searching. After a few minutes two shadows returned, carrying Princess Cadance and Shining Armor. The two exhausted royals were valiantly resisting Gloom's influence, an amazing effort given that Gloom was forcing them to relive the Changeling queen's impersonation of Cadance. Gloom enjoyed seeing their pain, he liked reminding Cadance how she was too weak fight off the queen and got herself captured. Shining was especially suffering, given that he failed to tell his own fiance from an impostor and that he turned on his sister when she pointed out the obvious charade. The sad part was that he wasn't fully under Chrysalis's control until the wedding itself, his actions til then were mostly his own and he didn't suspect a thing. The very worst part was his attempts at romance and intimacy with what he thought was Cadance, Gloom gleefully shared those memories with Cadance. All Chrysalis needed to have done was take him up on his offers, that's all it would have taken to possibly create a unicorn-changeling hybrid. Luckily for Cadance, Chrysalis was not attracted to Shining. Oh well, the intention was all Gloom needed to torment the couple.

Gloom levitated Cadance to him with his magic. "Princess Cadance, former ruler of the Crystal Empire, I am Gloom, spirit of misery and current ruler of the Crystal Empire. Would you kindly tell me how to bend the crystal heart to my will." Gloom's voice was flat and calm, as if he asked what time it was. Cadance glared at him. "You must know, after all, it technically belongs to you and.." Gloom eyed her flank, "There is a picture of it on your body." Gloom could extract the information directly from her mind, but that would take time and effort as she was still resisting. Some of her mind was still obscured from Gloom's eye. Cadance glared at him for a moment, then spoke.

"If I tell you, will you let us go?"

"No, I'm not an idiot Cadance. You would come back to free your subjects."

"What about just Shining?"

"Again no."

"Then why should I tell you?"

"If you don't your husband's suffering will increase tenfold, and I'll make you watch." Cadance sighed and her expression turned from defiance to defeat.

"Touch the heart and channel your magic into it, the heart will attune to your power and magnify it."

"Cadance NO!" Shining yelled.

Gloom was surprised and suspicious, he expected more of a fight. The answer seemed so simple, but it made sense, after all, the heart seemed to be just an amplifier for magic. He hadn't tried physical contact, but then again he was hesitant to try anything without fully understanding the heart. Gloom cautiously walked to the heart, still holding Cadance and Shining in his magical grasp just in case. He slowly stretched his claw towards the heart, then, with one finger, touched it. Nothing happened. Gloom sent some of his power into the crystal, and was promptly met with searing agony! The instant his magic touched the heart it sent a wave of positive energy through his body, repulsing and countering his dark magic. It was like being electrocuted and burned in the worst possible way. Gloom screamed and stumbled backwards clutching his ruined claw, which melted and fell off. Gloom attempted to regenerate but this strange white crystal formed on the wound and got in the way, preventing his healing and intensifying the pain. Gloom snarled and shrieked as he poured his magic into the wound in an attempt to break through the crystal scab and finally heal it. After expending enough magic to drain 5 or 6 unicorns dry, the crystal shattered, sending new pain through Gloom's arm, and the wound began to heal itself, very slowly.

Gloom turned towards the royals, his eyes alight with blue fire. They were smiling! They both knew that would happen. "Oh right, did I forget to mention that the heart doesn't like dark magic? I was hoping that would cripple you and free us, but it was still worth it," Cadance said.

"You're going to wish you hadn't done that." Gloom's voice was disturbingly quiet.

"Do what you want, Cadance and I will gladly die for our subjects, we love each other, no matter what you do to tear us apart," Shining spoke through clenched teeth.

"Joke's on you, I felt the heart's power shift ever so slightly. A steady stream of dark magic will definitely turn the heart into my instrument, I just need an expendable resistor!" Gloom snarled as he seized Cadance by the hair. Gloom dragged the struggling alicorn to the heart and, with one claw on her head and the other holding her legs, he touched her horn to the heart. Cadance kicked and flapped with all her might, but tendrils materialized out of Gloom's body and held all her limbs tight. Shining struggled to help his wife, but the shadows held fast. Gloom sent a surge of his own dark power through Cadance and into the heart. Cadance screamed as dark magic rushed through her horn and screamed even louder when the heart fought back. The crystal heart repulsed the dark magic and attacked whatever was channeling it. Poor Cadance was Gloom's unwilling bridge and surge protector, her own body acting as a lightning rod for Gloom's magic while at the same time absorbing the heart's backlash. Both streams of foreign magic were extremely painful. The dark magic felt like freezing shards of ice tearing through her veins while the hearts magic more resembled fire in her nerves. The two magics violently clashed within her, but Gloom did not let her die or pass out. Some of his magic protected her so she would suffer no life threatening damage, only pain, pure and simple. Gloom simply stared at the heart in anticipation, waiting for his magic to usurp the magic within.

"STOP!! Please!" Shining begged, tears in his eyes. Gloom ignored the stallion. "Use me instead!" Gloom paused, pondering the idea.

"No, she is an alicorn and more resilient, there's a higher chance you will die unicorn, and I have no use for a corpse."

"Isn't she more valuable, don't you want her in good condition! What do you care about one unicorn?" Shining was desperate, he would do anything to stop his wife's suffering. He had failed to protect her from the queen changeling, he will not fail again, HE WILL NOT!

"Any damage done will heal." Gloom moved Cadance's shivering body towards the heart again. Suddenly Gloom retched and coughed up black bile. "Cursed love magic." Gloom muttered. Shining heard the statement and realized that their protection spell had hurt Gloom.

"That was me!" Shining blurted out. Gloom stopped. Had this one unicorn really cast the spell that hurt him so? Gloom invaded Shining's mind for proof. Shining felt it and focused all his will towards blocking out all trace of Cadance in that memory; he focused on himself casting the spell, the preparation and release of the energy. It was all him, Cadance was giving orders to the guards, she had nothing to do with it. Gloom snarled in anger as he read the memory, too livid to notice that the images didn't seem quite right. He tossed Cadance to waiting shadows and reached for Shining. Shining closed his eyes as he felt claws seize his head and drag him across the floor. He clenched his teeth and focused his mind on an image of Cadance as his horn was lowered towards the heart. He had protected her, he was her shining armor. He swore to himself that he wouldn't scream, no matter the pain. A few seconds later when the magic burned through him and overloaded his nervous system he broke that oath.

Comments

[Vansho-Lakon]

Dang, Gloom is a brutal fiend.